Morning Muse with Dave Arnold

Mortification and Renovation

Once a man asked Rembrandt at what point a picture was complete. To this the famed Dutch artist replied, “A painting is finished when it expresses the intent of the artist.”

Titus 2:11-12 reads, “For the grace of God what brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age.”

Renovation, which the grace of God produces, is to ‘live soberly,’ which respects ourselves; ‘righteously and justly’ in all our dealings with our neighbors; and ‘godly’ in connection with God.”

There was a poor slave girl in ancient Greece. Her clothes were torn and her hair disheveled.

One day, as she made her daily rounds through the market place, she noticed a statue of a Grecian woman.

The slave girl was transfixed with the beauty of the statue.

Then she looked down at her own ragged dress. That night, she began to work on her clothing.

The next time she passed the statue, she noticed the woman’s hair, and decided to train her own. That night, she began work with a broken comb.

Each day, as she passed the statue, she noticed a new feature, and then as nearly as she could she tried to reproduce in herself its beauty.

One day, as she was standing before the statue, a stranger paused to admire its beauty, and noticed a strong likeness of the girl standing near by. He asked her if she had posed for the statute in its making.

“No,” she answered, “I just have grown to look like her, because I have studied everything about her.”

“Beholding the face of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same image” (2 Corinthians 3:18).